AURORAS, SOLAR ACTIVITY AND THE LOG BOOK - June 26, 2015

AURORAS, SOLAR ACTIVITY AND THE LOG BOOK
June 26 - 2015


 It's been a busy few days for Mr Sun! Lots of solar activity with much radiation hitting the Earth's atmosphere….and really messing with global shortwave radio communications. We knew this was coming! Dr Tamitha Skov predicted the multiple events days before it was about to happen. Here's what she said on June 21:

Here in Melbourne, reception conditions were good leading up to June 22, but signals fell away rapidly over the next few days. And its not surprising when, for example, you have a look at this auroral activity certered around the whole Antarctic region as depicted below on June 23 at 1405 UTC.


As a result, many people in the state of Victoria and down in Tasmania were treated to some spectacular Aurora Australis displays. Take a look at some of these wonderful photographs….most unusual for our part of the world!!

 https://youtu.be/Bs26CjZeKNo

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-23/photographer-captures-amazing-aurora-australis-over-victoria/6566074


https://open.abc.net.au/explore/97080

BBC ANTARCTIC BROADCAST

British researchers and scientists were indeed lucky to receive their annual Winter Solstice broadcast before the solar storms struck Earth! This broadcast came courtesy of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the BBC on June 21. Reception on the three frequencies were heard here at Mount Evelyn with good strength from the Woofferton and Dhabayya transmitter sites, although the 9590 kHz outlet struggled with QRM (interference) from PBS Xizang on the same frequency. 

 Here are some snippets of each frequency:

 5985 kHz - Woofferton - The best of the three frequencies. At 15 second mark, I switched in the Digital Noise Filter on the Yaesu FTDX3000 to try and improve the quality of the audio.

5985 kHz - Woofferton again - With the sign off announcements

5905 kHz - Dhabayya - the next best channel

9590 kHz - Woofferton - Good signal but difficult listening with the co-channel PBS Xizang also heard strongly at this time.

Want to hear how the broadcasts were received in other parts of the world? Check out Thomas Witherspoon's SWLing Blog for some interesting recordings of the broadcast:

 http://swling.com/blog/2015/06/listening-across-the-globe-2015-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast/

OR.....perhaps you missed the broadcast and would like to hear it? Here's a link to the BBC site:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tp3cv  (This link is good till around July 20th)


FROM THE LOG BOOK

There was some really good winter DX noted here in the days prior to the solar storms:

 3320   SOUTH AFRICA. R. Sonder Grense - Meyerton. News in Afrikaans at 2100, fair to poor signal

 3324.87   INDONESIA. RRI - Palangkaraya. Appeared to be on extended schedule for Ramadan at 2102 in Indonesian with a  poor signal on June 21.

 4840   USA. WWCR - Nashville TN. American preaching, interesting early fade in around 0550 (3:50 pm local), signal improves by 0730, June 22.

 4915   UNIDENTIFIED BRAZIL 2115 with a ballad, very weak and may have been the Brazilian, Radio Daqui, Goiâna which was last heard here at this time on a number of occasions in the 2013 winter DX season, via the Antarctic path. June 21.

 4949.71   ANGOLA. R. Nacional - Mulenvos. Music at 2120, fair signal and haven't heard this one (off air?) for many months prior to June 21.

 4985   BRAZIL. R. Brasil Central - Goiânia. Believed to be the station at 2110 with music and Portuguese anncts, coming via the Antarctic path just prior to the big geomagnetic storms that collapsed all reception on this path for the next 2-3 days. Fair to poor on June 21.

 5010.92   MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. Noted on the slightly longer weekend schedule at 2110 with a music program and Malagasy anncts, fair signal on June 21.

 5905.10   U.A.E. BBC - Dhabayya. Winter Solstice broadcast to British Antarctic bases 2130-2200, off frequency and with a slight hum but at good signal strength, June 21.

 5908.43   COLOMBIA. Alcaraván R. - Lomalinda, Puerto Lleras. Bright dance music program at 0700 f/in, occasional anncts and IDs, fair signal on June 21.

 5939.67   BRAZIL. Voz Missionária - Camboriú. Religious program at 0715, not especially strong but consistently heard most days, as on June 21. Also at 2120 with hymns via the Antarctic path, poor signal, June 21.

 5950   FRANCE. KBS World Radio - Issoudun. French service to WAf, at times some heavily Asian accented French programming, 2130, good signal on June 22.

 5964.96   BRAZIL. R. Transmundial - Santa Maria, RS. Hymns and prayers at 0720, weak signal but in the clear on June 21.

 5969.48   BRAZIL. R. Itatiaia - Belo Horizonte, MG. Weak signal at fade in around 0730, with fast news and canned anncts, June 21.

 5985   ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. Winter Solstice broadcast to British Antarctic bases 2130-2200, best reception and strongest signal of the three frequencies chosen for this year's broadcast. June 21.

 6005   ASCENSION IS. BBC - Ascension. English to WAf at 0635 till s/off 0700, fair signal, June 22.

 6060   CUBA. R. Havana - Bauta. English to ENAm at 0650, excellent signal on June 22.

 6070   CANADA. CFRX - Toronto. Middle-of-the-night chit-chat and talk-back program. Everyone seemed to be talking about everyone else's business. People should just mind their own business!! Must have been around 3:30am on Sunday morning there. Difficult listening at times due to local noise, but pleasing to hear this 1 kW, June 21.

 7300   ENGLAND. R. Akhbar Mufriha (HCJB) - Woofferton. Arabic to NAf at 2120 with preaching and occasional music. Full ID and s/off 2145, good signal on June 22.

 9590   ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. Winter Solstice broadcast to British Antarctic bases 2130-2200, good signal but moderate QRM from PBS Xizang - Lhasa, June 21.

 11915   TAIWAN. R. Taiwan Int'l - Tainan. Indonesian service at 0940 with pop songs. Fair signal on June 21.

Reception conditions could still be poor over the next few days, due either to further storms or the time taken for the Earth's atmosphere to settle after the recent onslaught! Check the HF Propagation Conditions indicator below for a quick guide to current conditions. Green is good, Yellow is fair, lots of Red is BAD!!

 73 and have a great weekend everyone!

 Rob Wagner VK3BVW
 Subscribe!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. If your comment isn’t visible right away, it has been received and will be published shortly.

Popular posts from this blog

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW # 21 - The Kenwood R-5000

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #21 (You can click on all photos in this article for a close-up view) KENWOOD R-5000 Performance and Innovation by ROB WAGNER VK3BVW This extended blog post first appeared as a feature article in the February 2024 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com I have always wanted to own a Kenwood R-5000 receiver. Perhaps I was dazzled by the mystique that appeared to surround this rig. Somehow, it had always been on top of my bucket list of pre-loved rigs that I wanted sitting on the desk of the radio shack.  Finally, one showed up at a local Sunday morning Hamfest, and I happened to have just enough dollars in my pocket to make a purchase. It appeared to have lived a hard life. The case looked knocked around and was pretty dirty inside and out. So, while I would have liked to have owned a unit in better condition, the price was right, and I decided to take it on as a l...
Read more

REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA

Image
PRODUCT REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA by Michael Stevenson (Guest Contributor) This is a review and my opinion of the Wellbrook ALA1530S+ P–1 Active receiving Antenna. For further information, details and specifications then please visit: www.wellbrook.uk.com Background I have been a keen shortwave listener since 1970 and have had many receivers and antenna types during this time. Currently I have two wire antennas, a PAR Electronics EF-SWL 15 meter with impedance matching transformer, made in the US; and a home made 17 meter wire with balun. I also have a dedicated multi-stake ground or earthing system to compliment my receiver and antennas. I live in suburbia Port Macquarie, New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. Even though all our electricity wiring is under ground in our housing estate, I live in an environment where there are all types of man-made noises coming from modern electronic and electrical equipment used by my neighbours The wire a...
Read more

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 - The SONY ICF-5900W

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 SONY ICF-5900W by CRAIG SEAGER VK2HBT This time around, I thought we might direct our attention to one of the many portable receivers of yesteryear, and it is perhaps appropriate that we choose a manufacturer that continued to produce quality equipment featuring shortwave coverage until long after. I’m sure our Japanese friends will concur with the submission that Japan is a land of short-lived, but enthusiastically embraced fads.  Whether it be karaoke, yo-yos with brains, electronics pets or Pokémon, each craze sweeps the country in such a way that captures the attention of the rest of the world and is usually associated with some pretty smart home-grown technology.   In the mid to late 1970s, shortwave listening (or “BCL”) was the flavour of the month, with teenagers (and some older folk!) compiling large QSL collections and forming SWL and DX clubs all over the country.  Nowadays, you’d be fairly hard-pressed to find any external broadcas...
Read more